Saturday, August 2, 2014

In my kitchen - August 2014

In my kitchen, there has been a batch of vegan 'pebble road' (rocky road minus the nuts and cherries, and with biscuit chunks and dried fruit).

Vegan pebble road

You see, I finally went to Whole Foods. What is more, London's largest Whole Foods. As you may understand, it was a trip I made without Mr Bite. I exercised great restraint, but did come away with vegan marshmallows and a few other luxury items. I enjoyed some of the mallows plain and put the rest into the above chocolate slice.

In my kitchen, there are new storage containers on top of our kitchen cabinets. Our shipment is due to arrive in about a month, and we are a little bit concerned about where everything will go. These baskets are a preemptive storage strike.

As Mr Bite and I are both quite tall, the high up position works fine for things we don't need too frequently. One basket is storing tea towels and I suspect the others will fill themselves up easily.

In my kitchen, there have been more Thai-style beetroot noodles - sometimes, as below, mixed with zucchini noodles. There have also been several books on British history. I went on a Tudor history binge last year, but my knowledge pre-1450 and post-1600 was pretty minimal. I am slowly learning the string of kings and queens and major events.

In my kitchen, there are window ledge herbs. I am really liking the convenience of herbs within the kitchen, even if these pots are the extent of our 'garden'!

In my kitchen, there have been products from Waitrose, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda, Aldi and Lidl, as well as delivered produce from Ocado.com. In other words, we have been working through all the major UK supermarkets, and then some! I've also found local farmer's stalls for fresh produce, so most of our fruit and vegetable purchases now come from those. I'm yet to test out some online sites that specialise in bulk buy products (like Goodness Direct and Suma Wholesale), or make an actual purchase from Planet Organic, but I'm feeling better acquainted with London food stores.

Last but definitely not least, in my kitchen there will shortly be my sister! She and her boyfriend have been travelling Europe for the last month, and the UK is their final stop before returning to Australia. Knowing I'd see her so soon made our Australian farewell much easier, and I can't wait to see her later today.

Your high storage made me laugh - I am short but happy to store things up that I don't use much (tea towels are on high rotation here so they would never be so high in my kitchen - but an icing piping set and a tiered cake stand are not used much) and sylvia in a fit of boredom has been exploring the higher shelves today which was a nightmare as many things high up are there to be out of reach.

I'd love to read more about British history - I studied a lot of recent history and wish I had studied more tudor and medieval - but at least visiting a lot of historic tourist attractions while in the UK helped my grasp of the history. I am sure you are also finding this.

Interesting to be reminded of the diversity of British supermarkets - makes me even sadder about our two monoliths - reading about them in the Monthly tonight was rather scary. Have you been to the borough market - it is place I would love to visit but I guess there must be a lot more farmers markets around london now - is there one in your neck of the woods?

I imagine when our shipment comes I may decide tea towels belong lower and my own icing kit can go up high (had forgotten I had one til you mentioned yours! this shipment will be full of surprises!). Children exploring high shelves does sound dangerous, and I say that with memory of my own childhood excursions doing the same - always filled with fun for me, but I suspect not for my mother.

Seeing historical buildings / sights / explanations really does help bring history to life and make it easier to grasp. There's still a lot to see though!

We saw Borough markets on one of our very first days here and I loved the look of them, but sadly at that stage we weren't really in a position for casual market browsing. Gives me a good excuse to go back though!

Kari, is the garden outside the window yours as well? Such a pretty view from your kitchen! Sounds like you're having a great time checking out the UK food sources and how great that there is a good offering of vegan supplies for you! Love the look of your pebble road and that rice paper roll looks absolutely delicious! Will your teatowels stay clean up high? Everything on top of my cupboards is covered in dust! :)

Sadly the outside garden belongs to the flat downstairs, but at least it gives us green space to look at :) You make a good point about the tea towels and dust - I may have to monitor the dust situation and re-evaluate!

How exciting to have your sister come and visit. I hope you're all having a great time together. I love how you're getting organised for your container to arrive. It will be like Christmas when you unwrap all those things. I went to a Whole Foods Store in New York - unbelievable! You definitely do need to exercise restraint! I love how you have herbs on your window sill - so convenient - I remember Jamie Oliver doing the same thing in one of his first cooking shows xx

Restraint is something that can go out the window when I find myself somewhere like Whole Foods, but thinking of Mr Bite's reaction if I spend a small fortune tends to help me contain myself ;) Plus, as you say, I have a Christmas-like experience around the corner with our own items. I imagine we have forgotten a lot of them already!

How wonderful to be able to stock up by visiting all the new supermarkets. Discovering some old faves and new treats! I did think about unfollowing you because of your total lack of dedication to pre 1450's history but I'll let you off the hook this time ; 0

I love your high storage. I am 6ft tall (183cm) and always have extra storage space because I can keep things up high... It is nice to know other tallies do it too! Good to hear you are checking out your food surrounds, I'm sure it will take no time at all for you to find all your favourites! Thanks for sharing! Liz x

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